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November 28, 2023By Joe Leisz, CCS Development Director
The community of Tucson will soon have its first and only medical respite center for the homeless. Catholic Community Services will dedicate Casa de Respiro on Tuesday, December 5 at 10 a.m. with Bishop Edward Weisenburger officiating.
Casa de Respiro will be housed at Center of Opportunity Campus located at 4550 S. Palo Verde Road north of Interstate 10.
The medical respite center will provide post-hospital services to persons experiencing homelessness who are injured or ill and have no place to recover due to being unhoused. The multi-faceted program includes a partnership with El Rio Health Center, Catholic Community Services, and the HSLopez Family Foundation.
“It’s finally happening!” said Elena Dwyre, CEO of CCS. “This is a place where people can heal and receive additional services, so when they are well enough to leave, they can move into more stable housing.”
“We began work on this project in 2015 with a community assessment to determine the need for such a program in Tucson,” Dwyre explained. “We had a number of challenges placed in our path between that first year of work and today, including the COVID pandemic which paused our work for more than two years. We are grateful to all of our generous donors, the volunteers who helped design this program, and the supportive partners who have stuck with us—bringing us to the completion of this place of love and healing.”
“It’s really exciting to contemplate the impact this center will have—and the lives it will save and change, starting in just a few short months,” said Scott Kim, Program Director for Casa de Respiro. “We’re already getting calls from hospitals asking about it.”
CCS’ 15,000-square-foot facility includes housing for 10 women and 36 men in a quad room setting and two private rooms for palliative or private care. The common areas include small group therapy spaces, large activity areas, dining areas, outside space, a serving kitchen, and an interfaith chapel/quiet room for worship services and meetings. Because maintaining relationships with pets is important to health and healing, the center will also have a pet play area to accommodate patients’ pets. Additional spaces include staff areas, storage, showers, and laundry. It is estimated that Tucson’s new Medical Respite Center will serve more than 1,500 persons experiencing homelessness annually. Similar programs in other states helped reduce costly emergency room visits by 40%, days of in-patient care by 70%, and hospital readmissions.
Gifts, grants, and pledge commitments supporting the $7.9 million facility were raised from more than 300 individual donors, foundations, and partners. Leadership gifts include those from the Diane & Bruce Halle Foundation, the HSLopez Family Foundation, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, the Chouinard Charitable Trust, and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Arizona. Other significant support includes St. Joseph Catholic Healthcare Endowment Fund, Connie Hillman Foundation, Southwest Catholic Health Network, Ginny L. Clements and Tom Rogers, O’Rielly Family Foundation, Del E. Webb Foundation, Jim and Vicki Click, William and Mary Ross Foundation, Margaret E. Mooney Foundation, PetSmart Charities, Union Pacific, Raskob Foundation, and the Sundt Foundation, among other. Board members, families, additional corporations and foundations, and those who wish to remain anonymous have also helped the project. Additional support is now being raised for furnishings, program materials, and start-up operations. Those who wish to help may contribute online at https://www.ccs-soaz.org/donate/form